VIActin - investment opportunities Investment opportunities. International Finance. Stock Market Investor and Trader. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 0 814

Articles from VIActin - investment opportunities

Rant about the weather 2008-02-08 08:59:00 "We had another 8-inches of snow that dumped on us again a couple of days ago. Man, I am tired of all this crap that we are getting this year. Anyway, this time we got a decent amount of rain which froze underneath the snow. So today being payday, and riding on empty, I went to get ice. Guess what. My dang, gas tank was iced shut. I cut my knuckles trying to chip the ice away (without damaging my paint). To top it off my city, doesn't blade the roads. Because they don't want to damage the roadway. So they just throw salt and sand down and call it good. Then the cities police issue their annual press release reminding citizens are to have their sidewalks and driveways shoveled within 12 hours (or 6 hours from sunrise) to avoid getting a $100 ticket (plus $71 court costs). The gall of the city to expect private citizens to do what they refuse to do on the streets. It is even worse then that. I live on a side street, and I may never even see them come down the street with salt and sand. ...

Japan stocks rise on Microsoft factor 2008-02-04 00:39:00 Shares in Softbank soared as much as 16% and Yahoo Japan was untraded due to a flood of buy orders on Monday in Tokyo, on hopes a potential Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo would boost the Japanese firms’ competitiveness, reports Reuters. Microsoft’s $44.6bn bid for Yahoo announced Friday was priced at $31 per share - a 62% premium to Yahoo Inc’s Thursday close. Internet and mobile phone service company Softbank owns 3.9% of Yahoo Inc in terms of voting rights. Yahoo Japan is owned 41% by Softbank and 33% by Yahoo Inc. The deal, if realised, would be highly positive for Yahoo Japan, said one analyst, as Microsoft’s financial prowess and technological expertise would help Yahoo Inc and Yahoo Japan compete better with Google in internet search services. Meanwhile, a weekend report in the Nikkei business newspaper said that a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo Inc would likely result in an alliance among Microsoft, Softbank and Yahoo Japan. ... Microsoft

Stock market woes hit hedge funds 2008-02-04 00:33:00 January was the worst for hedge funds since the August 1998 crisis that presaged the collapse of Long Term Capital Management, according to data from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research. The average fund tracked by the HFRX index lost more than 2% in January, with event-driven funds, which include activists, the worst hit with a 3.39% loss. Equity long-short funds – which also tend to be exposed to declines in stock markets – were badly hit too. Funds that had long positions on stock markets lost out as UK blue-chips fell 6.6% and the S&P 500 fell 6% over the month. For example, the computer-driven RIEF fund from Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, one of the best-respected hedge funds, was down about 4%, as it is structured to be long the market. ...

Microsoft + Yahoo = Microsoft - $44.6 billion 2008-02-01 09:40:00 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote) has made an unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O: Quote) for $44.6 billion in cash and stock, seeking to join forces against Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote) in what would be the biggest Internet deal since the Time Warner-AOL merger.In its boldest-ever acquisition move, Microsoft said on Friday it offered $31 per share for Yahoo, or a 62 percent premium over the Internet media company's closing stock price on Nasdaq Thursday.Yahoo, whose shares jumped to $30.75 in premarket trading, said it would evaluate the bid.Microsoft shares, which have a market capitalization of about $300 billion, fell 6 percent to $30.78. ... Microsoft  Yahoo

20% Return 2008-02-01 05:10:00 INVESTOR 1Investor 1 wants to do right by herself and her money. She’s worked hard to stash away $1000, and she’s determined to maximize her return. So over the course of a year she spends much of her time online researching stocks. She keeps up with all the news, trades often, and is alternately exhilerated and stressed with every volatile turn in the markets. She does well and earns a 20% return – even after taxes and all those trading fees! At the end of the year her $1000 has turned into $1200. She smiles and pats herself on the back. Then she flips on CNBC to see if she can pick up some tips on how to duplicate that return next year.INVESTOR 2 Investor 2 also worked hard to stash away $1000. She too wants to do what’s best for her financial future by making that money grow as fast as possible. Therefore she sticks her $1000 in an index fund. She knows this will minimize fees and taxes and - more importantly - that she can just let that money sit there without having to spe ...

Spending money on personal luxuries 2008-02-01 05:02:00 I've read a few articles about the philosopher Peter Singer, who, if I understand his ideas correctly, believes that all life has equal value, and that consequently we should all be vegetarians, and to take things to an extreme, that it's amoral for anyone to have luxuries while others are suffering. It's an interesting idea-- if you assume that each person who works as hard as they can, to the best of their ability, is equally deserving of rewards, how do we justify the different levels of luxury enjoyed by CEOs vs. teachers vs. people who work in factories in China? And are any of those people, all of whom have an income that can probably meet their basic needs, morally obligated to donate the rest of their money to better the lives of people for whom self-sufficiency isn't an option, and that only once all those people have been taken care of can anyone justify spending money on personal luxuries? ...

World Economic Update 2008-01-30 05:27:00 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has again cut its forecast for world economic growth and is bracing for more bad news in rich and poor countries, even as it stopped short of using the word "recession" on Tuesday (WASHINGTON). This year, the global economy will post its weakest performance in five years, the global economic watchdog said in an update to its semi-annual World Economic Outlook report. The warning comes days after IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn broke with tradition and asked governments to spend more - even at the cost of increasing budget deficits, which the agency normally considers a cardinal sin - to stimulate their economies. Strauss-Kahn cited the severity of the unfolding downturn. Growth in 2008 likely will slow to 4.1%, from 4.9% in 2007. Last October, it predicted 4.4% growth for 2008. This would be the worst performance since 2003, when the world economy grew by 3.6%, according to the IMF. "The overall balance of risks to the global growth ou ...

The 19 biggest trading scams 2008-01-25 08:03:00 Company: Societe Generale (2008) Detail: Lost 4.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) before taxes after trader went beyond permitted limits on European stock index futures.Company: Bank of Montreal (2007) Detail: Wrong-way bets on natural gas led to a pretax loss of about C$680 million ($663 million).Company: Amaranth Advisors LLC (2006) Detail: Trader Brian Hunter's bad bets on natural gas triggered $6.6 billion of losses.Company: Refco Inc. (2005) Detail: Declared bankruptcy after hiding $430 million of debt Company: China Aviation Oil (2004) Detail: Lost $550 million on (Singapore) Corp. speculative oil-futures trades, forcing debt restructuring.Company: Allied Irish Banks Plc (2002) Detail: Trader hid $691 million in currency market losses.Company: Plains All American (1999) Detail: Lost $160 million because of Pipeline LP unauthorized crude-oil trading by an employee.Company: Long-Term Capital (1998) Detail: Lost $4 billion after a debt Management default by RussiaCompany: Peregrine In ...

Bank hit by $7.1 billion trader fraud 2008-01-24 08:37:00 The Societe Generale Bank says it has uncovered "massive" fraud by a trader on its futures desk in Paris which resulted in a loss of 4.9 billion euros.The bank said the fraud was based on simple transactions, but concealed by "sophisticated and varied techniques".SocGen said that the employee, who has confessed to the fraud, has been suspended and a dismissal procedure had been initiated. It also announced new write-downs of 2.05bn euros related to the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US. The bank's shares, which were suspended in the morning, lost 3.6% when they resumed trading. Societe Generale is one of the main European financial services companies and also maintains extensive activities in others parts of the world. ...

Greenspan to join New York hedge fund firm: report 2008-01-15 01:25:00 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is set to join hedge-fund firm Paulson & Co. as an adviser, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. New York-based Paulson, with assets of $28 billion, is set to make the announcement on Tuesday, the report said.Credit Opportunities Fund (Paulson & Co.) +590% (in 2007) ...

“Magnit” 2007-12-26 02:29:00 Top manager of a major Russian investment bank informed that retail chain “Magnit” is planning to conduct a follow-on offering of shares in London in the nearest future. It aims to raise at least US$500m.Other investment bankers familiar with the company’s plans added that Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley have been appointed organizers of the deal, during which additionally issued shares will be sold on the LSE. The offering will take place in April-May 2008. ...

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 2007-12-26 01:35:00 A region's gross domestic product, or GDP, is one of the ways of measuring the size of its economy. The GDP of a country is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year). It is also considered the sum of value added at every stage of production (the intermediate stages) of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time.The most common approach to measuring and understanding GDP is the expenditure method:GDP = consumption + investment + (government spending) + (exports ? imports), or, GDP = C + I + G + (X-M) "Gross" means depreciation of capital stock is not included. With depreciation, with net investment instead of gross investment, it is the net domestic product. Consumption and investment in this equation are the expenditure on final goods and services. The exports minus imports part of the equation (often called cumulative exports) then adjusts this ...

Gazprom has bought OGK-6 2007-12-25 04:34:00 Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia's biggest company, is set to gain control of OAO OGK-6, the nation's third-largest power generator by capacity, after spending almost 21 billion rubles ($850 million) on new shares. Gazprom will own a little more than 50 percent in OGK-6 following Unified Energy's breakup after purchasing the 5.5 billion new shares, according to Bloomberg calculations. Gazprom is poised to dominate two out of the six national wholesale generating companies, or OGKs, being created under reforms to introduce competition and raise investment for the world's fourth-largest power network.The arrangement gives Gazprom influence over power supplies as far east as Siberia and in cities including Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia's largest cities. Critics say the market reforms could be undermined by Gazprom's emerging dominance in the power sector. ...

Homefront Mortgage Inc. 2007-12-24 07:36:00 We're sure the primary reasons for the shutdown are in the first sentence of Mr. Fry's letter:"Due to the tremendous number of buy back requests on loans that our loan agent staff funded, and due to the overwhelming number of lawsuits as a result of loans that our loan agent staff funded, and due to the massive increase in our errors and omissions insurance coverage as a result of these issues, Homefront Mortgage Inc. must discontinue all business operations on December 31st 2007. "This had to be one of the more disturbing "shutdown" letters we've ever seen! We made a phone call and spoke to Stuart Spencer, President. Needless to say, he felt the email was going to be kept a secret, and was not very pleased it was in our hands. In an about-face, he stated "we haven't decided what to do yet." He then proceeded with "Keep your f***king nose out of our business," carefully spelling out the 'F' word, and ended the phonecall with "...and f***k you too."QUOTE ...

Eoin Treacy (Fullermoney): Sectoral performance for 2007 2007-12-24 02:57:00 “Over the last year, the worst performing sectors have been Homebuilding (-60.69%) Thrifts & Mortgages (52.45%) Real Estate Management (-37.11%), Department Stores (-34.99%), Motorcycle Manufacturers i.e. Harley Davidson (51%) and Regional Banks (-31.2%) This is no secret and real estate related worries have dominated media coverage over the last year.“However what is less well known is that of the S&P 500’s 147 sector indices, 85 are positive or unchanged for the year. Of these, 7 are up in excess of 50% year-to-date. These were Fertilizer & Agricultural Chemicals (+94.42%), Construction & Engineering (94.24%), Education Services (+84.89%), Coal and Con Fuel (+76.61%) Diversified Metals (71.97%), Internet Retail (64.89%) and Healthcare Services (51.21%. A number of these indices are consolidating their gains and need to sustain moves to new high ground to reaffirm their overall uptrends.“In the coming year, we can probably expect banks to bottom out and they sh ...